Chinese Learning Studio

Jia qi kuai le!  假期快乐！Have a great holiday!

School Project

Objective: 

Using the Chinese you have learned in class;

create a Photo Story project and brochure to market your school and its strengths.

This is a group project. You may have a group of up to 4 students.

Project due date:

The brochure is due January 4. 

The Photo Story portion of this project is due January 12.

Your scenario: A group of prospective middle school students from Hong Kong, Taiwan and Singapore will visit your school.  Your job is to escort them on a tour of our campus and explain why our campus is the best in Shanghai.

Be sure to include the following:  ·        

Facilities·         

Class schedule·        

Daily routine·        

School activities·        

Strengths of our school  (what makes it special)·        

Pictures of our school and students·        

Creative marketing, include a name for your project

Structures and vocabulary to include:

1.       课程表2.       上课的时候3.       因为。。。所以。。。4.       虽然。。。可是。。。5.       对。。。adjective6.       一。。。就。。。7.       比8.       最9.       觉得10.    Measure words for class period and subjects (节，门) 

Timeline:

December 10: Rough draft of project plan

December 15: Rough draft of the project is due

December 18:  Typed written project is due

January 4:  Final written project due.  Photo Story rough draft is due.

January 12: Photo Story project is due, oral presentation will be given 

Project: 我老家的天气(wǒ lǎo jiā de tiān qì)  –The weather in my hometown 

Make a PPT to introduce your hometown weatherl                

Oral presentation must be at least 2 minutes in length l                

Prepare a worksheet with at least 5 questions about your project for audience participationl 

Written work must be at least 120 charactersl                

All weather related words must be typed in characters 

Contents/ Requirements:

Describe the weather in your hometown, include all four seasonsl                

Describe the clothes people wear for each seasonl                

Describe the sports and activities people can do for each seasonl                

Use the following newly learned grammar structures to lengthen your sentences 

又(yòu)……又(yòu)……，常(cháng)常(cháng)，有(yǒu)时(shí)候(hou)，……的时候(deshíhòu), 因(yīn)为(wéi)……所(suǒ)以(yǐ)……,  但(dàn)是(shì)   可(kě)能(néng)   应(yīng)该(gāi)穿(chuān)      

Timeline, Due Dates:

December 15                Hand written rough draft due 

December 16              Corrections will be returned to you by this date

December 16              Begin typing your project

December 16-18         Practice oral presentation at home

December 18              Typed project due

January 7                   Project due

January 7                   Presentation

Please find the rubric attached.

project-the-weather-in-my-hometown-rubric.doc

Project: 我的家

Make a photo story to introduce you and your family 

Contents:  

1.     Greetings

2.     Introduce yourself (name, age, grade, birthday, nationality, language you speak, self-description, like and dislike, etc…)

3.     How many people are there in your family? Who are they?

4.     Introduce each family member individually (name, age, birthday, nationality, language they speak and description, etc…) 

Requirements:

1.     You are required to write in characters. For those words that you did not learn the characters, you may write pinyin.

2.     When describing, use a variety of sentence structures and grammar to make your presentation more interesting.  

Timeline, Due Dates:

December 15                Written rough draft due   

December 15                Project Pictures due

December 16              Corrections will be returned to you by this date

December 16              Begin typing your project

December 16-18         Practice oral presentation at home

December 18              Typed project due

January 7                    Project due 

Please see the rubric attached.

project-my-family-rubric.doc

There are many chinese words which mean “happy”:  

kuai le       快乐

yu kuai      愉快

kai xin       开心

gao xing     高兴

Weather Report

Your project is to create and record a weather report in Chinese.

First choose a city about which you want to report the weather. Next you will follow the weather of that city for one week, five days. You will write down the weather and temperature that is reported for that city in sentence form and in Chinese characters on a daily basis.

This rough draft of the project is due November 26. Corrections will be returned to you by December 1. November 26- December 1 you are to collect pictures that represent the weather you described for your city. December 1- 4 you will make corrections to the rough draft. The week of December 8, we will use the Mac computers to record your voice in Garage Band and add pictures to create your weather presentation.

Timeline, Due Dates:

November 26                     Rough draft due

December 1                        Corrections will be returned to you by this date

December 1-8                    Practice oral presentation at home

December 4                        Pictures for presentations are due

December 8                        Begin recording on Garage Band 

December 10                      Project due

Learning a new language is challenging as well as rewarding.  It is important to begin with a desire to learn the language, or at least a reason why the language will be a benefit so that we have a purpose for learning to take place.

Once a purpose is found, finding strategies to help retain the information is important. Some of the best language learning strategies include the following methods:

·         Flash cards   Using flash cards helps make memorizing the characters easier and more efficient.  Flash cards are easy to carry around and it is easy to put them into a random order for learning.

·         Taking notes in your notebook   Taking notes is an effective way to learn a language because it helps to make a brain connection.  When you write things down, it becomes visual, and it reminds you of what you learned in class.

·         Reviewing your notes daily   Daily review helps to remind you of what you learned in class as well as helps you to make connections with other notes taken in previous days.

·         Listening to the CD that comes with the textbook    Listening to the CD that accompanies your textbook will help you with your listening and reading skills.  The CD reads the text to you.  As you follow the voice on the CD you will be able to hear and see the repetition as you follow in the book.  The added bonus to this is that you will be able to learn better pronunciation as the CD speaker has model Mandarin pronunciation.

·         Listening to Chinese TV    Watching Chinese television stations helps us to learn Chinese because it is visual.  We can see the actions and faces of the people as they speak; it pulls us into the drama.  It is far more entertaining than listening to someone speak.  Since it is visual, we can learn at a faster rate.  The down side to this is that you need to find a program that fits your interests and time schedule and stick with it.  The Mandarin pronunciation is also regional, meaning the local actors have more of a local accent rather than a Mandarin pronunciation.

·         Apply what you have learned in the classroom when you go on an outing with your family or friends     When going around Shanghai or to other areas in China, speak as much Chinese as possible.  It is important to remember that the purpose of language is to communicate; to be understood.  It does not mean that you have to be an eloquent speaker of the language; you just have to be able to get what you want.  When your meaning is understood, or you get what you want, you should feel proud of yourself because you succeeded!

Learning a language is rewarding especially when you are understood, or when you can understand others.  Make sure you take advantage of the many ways to learn a language.  The more you practice, the more you will learn.  The more you learn, the more relaxed you will feel in the language environment.

Mrs. Chen and Ms. Xu 

Well done and enjoy your skit!

Well done and enjoy your skit!